Tax on Commuted Value

I know it states a portion of the Commuted Value payout is taxable, is that true even if the total lump sum goes directly to a locked-in RSP retirement annuity of some kind?

Yes, typically a portion of the commuted value goes into a locked-in RSP and a portion is taxable. Not all of the commuted value can go directly into a locked-in RSP because of some rules of the Income Tax Act. With the taxable portion, you can put it into an RRSP (not locked-in) if you have sufficient RRSP room to accommodate it.